ECON 377
Inspiration/Perspiration: The Economics of Innovation and Technological Change Spring 2016
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

From agriculture, to the steam engine, to modern biotechnology, technological change drives economic growth and rising living standards. Whether we are talking about great inventions or small tweaks, the tools of economics can help us understand how new technologies emerge, spread, and become obsolete. In this course, we will first take a microeconomic approach to examining the creation of new knowledge, the translation of ideas into practical applications, and the adoption of new technologies by producers and consumers. We will study the incentives that potential innovators face, how these are affected by patents and other forms of intellectual property rights, and how different market structures can influence the resulting trajectory of technological change and utilization. We will then confront the macroeconomic implications of innovation, and discuss how government policies can foster technological change and address its consequences. Throughout the course, we will explore historical and contemporary case studies of the creation, exploitation, and consequences of innovation.